NSW tech company Companion Systems has been ordered to pay nearly $30,000 in legal costs to a dismissed employee which it wrongfully accused of sending malware.

James Camenzuli had worked at the construction software firm since 2009 and was a Platform Experience Manager at the time of his dismissal in mid-2023.

He launched an unfair dismissal case at the Fair Work Commission soon after, and in May 2024 it was found that his firing was “harsh, unjust and unreasonable”.

Companion Systems was ordered to pay the ex-employee $34,660, along with $3,775 into his superannuation account.

Camenzuli then applied to have his legal costs covered by Companion Systems, despite the Fair Work Commission usually being a no-costs jurisdiction.

During the Commission proceedings, Companion Systems accused Camenzuli of sending malware to the company which was found to be untrue.

Fair Work Commission Commissioner Jennifer Hunt last week ruled in favour of Camenzuli and ordered Companion Systems to pay more than $28,500 in legal costs.

False malware accusations

A key factor in the decision to award costs was that the company had wrongfully accused the employee of sending malware to his own employer, the Commission said.

After being asked to return a company phone, Camenzuli sent an email in mid-June 2023 saying that he had done so and attached an Australia Post receipt.

During unfair dismissal proceedings, representatives from Companion Systems continually alleged that this email contained malicious malware, with the Commission finding this may have been because it came with a “quarantine notification”.

Despite this being submitted to the Commission, the respondent continued to claim that the email contained malware, something the Commissioner labelled “shocking” and “beyond comprehension”.

“It only became clear to him in cross-examination, when it was pointed out to him that it had simply been a quarantine notification, that he conceded that he had incorrectly assumed it was malware,” Hunt said.

She found that the company representatives’ conduct when it came to the malware allegations was “appalling”.

The company also made “baseless assertions” that Camenzuli engaged in theft and harassing and unstable conduct, and “serious misconduct” by deleting data from a work laptop before returning it.

The Commissioner found that none of these claims were true, with the applicant arguing they were made to “implement as much damage as it could inflict upon him, including egregious character assassination attacks”.

The Commissioner also found that employers at Companion Systems engaged in “astonishing conduct” by attempting to contact Camenzuli’s new workplace.

Costly proceedings

Hunt ruled that Companion Systems’s response to the unfair dismissal case was “vexatiously and without reasonable cause”, and that the allegations were made to “harass or embarrass” the former employee, or to “gain collateral advantage in the desire for him to withdraw his application”.

Because of this, the Commissioner ordered the NSW-based company to pay the near-$30,000 in legal costs.

In total, the incident has cost Companion Systems nearly $70,000.

Companion Systems provides software solutions to the building and construction industry and bills itself as “taking care of the complexity, so you can focus on building your business”.

The company was founded in 2002 and has its head office in Parramatta, New South Wales.

It also has a presence in Perth and Auckland.